Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama declared he will not resign and vowed to push forward with the controversial Svernica r...

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama declared he will not resign and vowed to push forward with the controversial Svernica resort development, telling a Socialist Party rally in Tirana on Friday that his vision is to turn Albania into "Dubai." He made the remarks on the 35th anniversary of the Socialist Party he leads, while thousands of protesters gathered just a few hundred meters away demanding his resignation for the 13th straight day. Rama dismissed the mass demonstrations as externally orchestrated, refusing any dialogue with what he called the "real organizers" behind the protests. Analysts warn that if the standoff continues without any de-escalation, Albania could slide into its worst political crisis since 1997. The anti-corruption prosecutor's office SPAK added fuel to the fire, revealing that the Svernica land at the center of the controversy was allegedly purchased by a wanted drug trafficker from Vlora named Artur, a figure tied to cocaine trafficking networks between Latin America and Europe. Artur allegedly bought roughly 7,000 acres of land using forged documents showing it as ancestral inheritance, according to SPAK. About 20 people are linked to the criminal network, including one named Ilir who was arrested last Wednesday in Thessaloniki, Greece. SPAK's investigation has now widened to include a cluster of Tirana skyscrapers, some of which sit empty, that prosecutors say were built with drug money laundering. The "Dubai look" Rama celebrated in his speech is the very development pattern the anti-corruption office is now examining. Even a pro-government newspaper, Dita, pushed back on his Dubai framing, writing, "Who told this man that Albanians want to become like Dubai?" Protesters are calling for a nationwide rally in Tirana on Tuesday evening, with reports of three flights arriving from the United Kingdom carrying Albanian diaspora members flying in specifically to join the demonstrations. #Albania #Rama #Svernica